N.C. Court of Appeals rules that convicted murderer Bobby E. Bowden should be freed

Source: The Fayetteville Observer, N.存倉C.Aug. 20--Convicted double-murderer Bobby E. Bowden of Fayetteville has served all the time required of him and should be freed, the state Court of Appeals said today.Bowden, 64, is serving a life sentence for killing two people in a convenience store robbery on McArthur Road in Cumberland County in 1975. Under state law at the time, a life sentence was capped at 80 years, and in 1981, another law cut sentence lengths in half. Prisoners could further reduce their sentences through good behavior credit and other efforts.A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals unanimously said today that Cumberland County Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks was correct in his ruling that the state had to apply its old laws and policies to Bowden's sentence.Bowden had calculated that he was due at least 2,500 days of credit, or 6 years and 10 months. Cumberland County Assistant Public Defender David Smith, who is one of Bowden's lawyers, thinks Bowden should have been released in October 2009.But prosecutors and the prison system opposed his efforts, saying he wasn't entitled to any sentence reduction. The prison system website says he shouldn't be released until July 23, 2055, at the completion of 82 years, nine months and 27 days behind bars for his murder and robbery convictions.Since 2006, Bowden's claim has been considered in Cumberland County S自存倉perior Court three times, and the Court of Appeals twice.In May 2012, Weeks ordered Bowden's release. Weeks stayed the release pending the results of this appeal.The state plans to appeal today's ruling to the N.C. Supreme Court, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Roy Cooper said.Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West could not immediately be reached for comment.On August 7, 1975, Bowden and Gregory A. Cousin robbed a 7-Eleven store on McArthur Road and shot to death store manager Larry Lovette, 19, and customer Norma C. Ehrhart, 44.Bowden was convicted of murder and robbery in December 1975, and Cousin was convicted of murder in 1976, according to prison records.Both were sentenced to death, but their death sentences were converted to life in prison because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that year that North Carolina's implementation of the death penalty at that time was unconstitutional.Prison records say that Cousin was released on Dec. 17 and is on parole.Bowden is incarcerated at Tillery Correctional Center, a minimum security prison in Halifax County in northeast North Carolina.Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at woolvertonp@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3512.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) Visit The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) at .fayobserver.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉新蒲崗